Thursday, 8 September 2011

I'm off doing a rally from Cape Town to Cairo, so I'm out of touch till the end of October.
If you'd like to follow the trip, send a mail to fu.saisee@gmail.com and I'll mail you the link.
Cheers till then.

Friday, 2 September 2011

Pew Research has released a report on comparative attitudes of Muslim and non-Muslim Americans, to a variety of issues.
Perhaps the most sobering one is that 21% of Muslim Americans think that Muslim in the US are subject to "a great deal of a fair amount" of support for extremism. Of course that percentage is higher amongst non-Muslim Americans, but the fact that one in five Muslims think that, is surely cause for concern.

In a word, "no". (answering Michael Ledeen in P J Tatler)
Never ascribe to conspiracy what is readily explained by incompetence.
I say this as an avid counter-jihadist and one living in China, who is nonetheless positive on China (for the most part).
There are heaps of "Chinglish" words and phrases around, even books on the subject. That's enough to explain the typos in the Koran.
Perhaps instead of "no", I should have said "I wish". But in fact, the Chinese are indeed concerned about "radical(*) Muslim separatists" in the west. They've been concerned about them for decades. Their basic line on them is to come down hard on any uppityness.

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(*) See Raymond Ibrahim on the concept of "radical" as used to describe Muslims/Islam: "Muslim Radicalization", September 1.

This post is part of the answer to the question, from those of my friends and acquaintances, and some readers, "so what is the evidence for the so-called 'creeping Sharia', then?". I'll add to it as we go along. For example, there's the evidence of Sharia laws influencing US courts as well, and I'll need to get the links and references for that.
There are, of course, the Sharia courts in the UK, which have been comprehensively critiqued and and found wanting, by One Law for All, a secular and non-partisan think tank, which is made up of many Muslims and ex-Muslims, and headed by Maryam Namazie.
There are the growing number of areas in the UK run by Muslims with Sharia law in effect already: "Welcome to Tower Hamlets", says the gloriously-named Esmerelda Weatherwax, in this month's New English Review.

On the issue of free speech, the freedom to talk openly and critically about Islam -- as we can about any other religion: witness Catholicism's copping a pounding in recent years -- there's the forthcoming UN resolution which will criminalise criticism of Islam. Nina Shea in the National Review:An unprecedented collaboration between the Obama administration and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC, formerly called the Organization of the Islamic Conference) to combat “Islamophobia” may soon result in the delegitimization of freedom of expression as a human right.More....

"...it is the duty of those who have accepted Islam to strive unceasingly to convert or subjugate those who have not. This obligation is without limit of time or space. It must continue until the whole world has either accepted the Islamic faith or submitted to the power of the Islamic state."

-- Bernard Lewis, renowned historian of Islam and the Middle East, in The Political Language of Islam, p72-3.

In other words:

"Islam is unique among religions of the world in having a developed doctrine, theology and legal system that mandates warfare against unbelievers."